Number of private hire drivers subjected to licencing action for parking on a taxi rank
Request ID: FOI-2604-2021
Date published: 19 April 2021
You asked
The number of private hire drivers that have been subject to licensing action and details of such action, for parking PHVs on a taxi rank.
Figures for each of the last 5 years.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-2604-2021
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 19 March 2021.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. You asked:
The number of private hire drivers that have been subject to licensing action and details of such action, for parking PHVs on a taxi rank.
Figures for each of the last 5 years.
Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.
We have estimated that it would considerably exceed the cost limit to provide a response to your current request. This is because we do not have the data readily collated in the way you have requested.
We can search our system for “Compliance Breaches – PHV”, however this doesn’t show suspensions which are either shown as active or not. Our records and reporting is based on ‘live’ data currently held in the system and so, drivers could have been suspended/revoked for this type of offence, but are no longer now, or were suspended/revoked, but appealed and won their appeal. Subsequent licensing action could also have been taken for any other reason(s) which then overwrites previous data for this particular type of matter. Therefore, in order to collate the information you have requested, we would need to manually check against a substantial number of driver records to locate and extract this data.
To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a shorter period of time.
Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.
However, if you are considering submitting a further request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI/EIR requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
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